The object of the present invention is an apparatus for the continuous removal of tritium enriched gases, especially tritium enriched hydrogen from industrial nuclear plants.
According to the state of the art today the tritium activity resulting in industrial nuclear plants, as for example neutron generators, is mostly drawn off from the plants into the atmosphere by way of waste gas lines. The tritium poisons the air and since tritium adds on to or builds into water vapor (or steam) the activity returns to the earth's upper surface, for example through rain water and can thereby cause environmental poisoning.
The object of the invention is therefore to develop an apparatus which makes possible the removal of hydrogen, especially of tritium, quantitatively and continuously from waste gases and thereby guarantee the retaining of purity of the air. This is accomplished by leading the tritium contaminated gas into a plant which contains at least two gas storage containers which can be filled selectively by way of corresponding valves and selectively, independent of each other can be emptied by way of at least one catalytic furnace and one or more absorption devices whereby simultaneously there is always filled one or more gas storage containers and there is always emptied one or more storage containers. While there must be at least two gas storage containers there is no upper limit on the number of storage containers other than the factor of increasing plant expense. Similarly, while there must be at least one catalytic furnace, there can be two or more such furnaces. Likewise, while there must be at least one absorption device, there can be two or more such devices. In the catalytic furnace the hydrogen gas is changed to water with the help of a catalyst, for example copper oxide (cupric oxide) and the water formed is bound to solid substances, for example phosphorous pentoxide as drying agents. Other conventional catalysts and solid drying agents can be employed. Analagously, in a given case, the oxygen and nitrogen resulting from the industrial nuclear plant can be chemically bound so that the industrial nuclear plant does not set free any waste gas.